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Iga Tsubagakure
The Iga Tsubagakure Clan is one of two ancient ninja clans and has a four century running hatred with the Kouga Manjidani Clan. The Iga store their salt in a storehouse in order to preserve food supplies in case of an attack, like Nobunaga's invasion at the beginning of the series. History It is unknown when or why the Iga and the Kouga became enemies, but the war came close to ending at a time when Ogen, the Iga's current chief, was young. She had developed a relationship with Kouga ninja Danjou. At some point the Iga were attacked by Nobunaga Oda, but both Danjou and Ogen managed to escape the massacre thanks to Hattori Hanzo the 1st's actions. However, after having escaped, Ogen learned that the Kouga had been heavily involved in the attack and she blamed Danjou, causing the rift between the clans to remain. The Iga's leader, Ogen's grandfather, was killed during the attack. Some time later, the Iga retaliated and assassinated a group of Kouga peace representatives, which included Renbu Kasumi. The next day Hattori Hanzo's anti-war pact was signed, forbidding the Iga and Kouga ninja to assault one another. Years later Danjou and Ogen brought their heirs Gennosuke and Oboro to meet Hattori Hanzo the 2nd and discuss an arranged marriage between the two, hoping once again to achieve true peace. The pair were introduced again at a meeting in Iga when they were adults, where they both decided to go ahead with the marriage. Despite Oboro's upcoming marriage to Gennosuke the people of Iga still refused to let go of the hatred from the past. If the marriage were to go ahead then Gennosuke would become the leader of the Iga clan, something most Iga resented and therefore most hoped that the marriage would not succeed. Current Affairs The Iga clan's chief Ogen was ordered to come to Sunpu with a representative to meet with Ieyasu Tokugawa. In order to demonstrate both clans abilities in warfare. There the anti-war pact was broken and ten Iga ninja were sent to battle against ten Kouga ninja to determine the next Shogun. The Iga were selected to represent Takechiyo, the eldest of Ieyasu's grandsons. This makes them an ally of Ofuku, who later intrudes in the war between the ninja to give a helping hand to the Iga. The Iga Ten The Iga ten are the ten best ninja Iga Tsubagakure has to offer. They were selected personally by Ogen to participate in the war against the Kouga. Rather than relying on deception, the Iga prefer more direct methods and their techniques tend to be mostly offensive to better give them an edge in close combat situations. The Iga Tsubagakure has many other ninja, as witnessed when Oboro and Akeginu have dinner with Gennosuke and Jousuke. Hattori Hanzo the 1st was also once an Iga ninja. There are also people in Iga who aren't ninja, such as Oboro's nanny Neeya. Factual Information Geography Iga Province (伊賀国, Iga no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area that is today western Mie Prefecture. Iga bordered on Ise, Ōmi, Yamato, and Yamashiro Provinces. The Iga province is a small mountain ringed basin (the Ueno basin) in the center of Japan's Kansai region, on the island of Honshū. Iga was one of fifteen ancient provinces which made up the Tōkaidō Region. This land area was one of five geographical region within what was known as the gokishichidō system -- an organized way of parsing the Japanese islands into five commonly understood elements. The Tōkaidō region was situated along the southeastern edge of Honshū, its name literally means 'Eastern Sea Way'. The term Tōkaidō also refers to a series of roads that connected the capitals of each of the provinces of the region, including small Iga. Historically, Iga Province was rather inaccessible due to extremely poor road conditions. However, it is now relatively easy to access from nearby Nara and Kyoto, as well as the larger cities of Osaka and Nagoya. History Today, much of the history of Iga province can be viewed at various sightseeing locations scattered throughout Mie. The castle town of Ueno was the location of Iga-Ueno Castle. The Iga Province is particularly famous for its clan of ninja, its most notable member being a samurai, Hattori Hanzō. Both the Iga and Kouga provinces are considered the birthplace of ninjutsu. It was also the birthplace of haiku poet Matsuo Bashō. During the early Muromachi Period the Iga Province became effectively independent from their feudal rulers and established a form of republic. The Iga Republic was called Iga Sokoku Ikki in Japanese. In 1581, two years after a failed invasion led by his son, the warlord Nobunaga Oda launched a massive invasion of Iga, attacking from six directions with a force of 40,000 to 60,000 men. After ruthlessly slaughtering great numbers of the inhabitants of the Iga region, Oda Nobunaga then declared a cease-fire which allowed some of the Iga ninja to escape. It was, however, the end of the independent Iga Republic. Category:Faction